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(The Stratford, Autograph Collection)<\/p>\n
The feeling of being transported to the UAE continues in the hotel\u2019s rooftop Japanese restaurant Kokin, where floor to ceiling windows overlook this steely citadel. My friend and I eat dinner, presented with dishes exquisite as works of art: slithers of Sashimi amongst delicate flower arrangements, decorated with tiny petals; fatty morsels of perfect Wagyu beef and an elegant bottle of sparkling Jasmine tea, which tastes like Earl Grey that has had a T-total love child with champagne.<\/p>\n
Kokin, in style, execution and price, leans into the high-end culture to which Stratford now aspires<\/a>, although it\u2019s less clear how the rest of the hotel fits. The reception booms with a DJ spinning dance tunes; hoodies hang in our bedroom and the mini bar feels curated by an 18-year-old, offering Stratford Pilsner, Watermelon fizz sweets and a passionfruit energy drink. Although a card in the room tells guests they can \u201cplant a seed at The Stratford\u201d amongst the urban positioning, the effort feels a little tokenistic.<\/p>\n The next morning, our cultural urban safari begins \u2014 starting at the ArcelorMittal Orbit<\/a>: A vast twisting 376-foot red tower designed by Turner-winning artist, Sir Annish Kapoor. Its 360-viewing deck, 80-meters in the sky, overlooks surrounding iconic buildings: The London Aquatics Centre, Lee Valley\u2019s VeloPark and the Copper Box Arena, which like Orbit are an urban legacy to the 2012 Olympic games.<\/p>\n At times, Stratford\u2019s sleek minimalism and the sheer scale of its architecture feel alienating, and bleak \u2014 like LA without the sun<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Kapoor complained that Boris Johnson forced him to add a slide to his sculpture, in an attempt to recoup its \u00a319million cost. Doing so in collaboration with artist Carsten Holle, Kapoor turned a potential fair-ride into a creative encounter. On the world\u2019s longest tunnel slide, you\u2019re plunged into darkness, sent hurtling towards your own existence, in something of a physical existential crisis.<\/p>\n The ArcelorMittal Orbit (Getty Images)<\/p>\n East Bank is the nucleus of Stratford\u2019s new cultural renaissance. Inspired by its namesake South Bank, it affects a similar Brutalist vibe, with boxy buildings housing the V&A, UAL, BBC and Sadlers Wells East punching up from the river bank.<\/p>\n We peruse the stretch, from swan pedalos, drifting on the water, which to be fair is probably more delightful in summer. And walk past artist Michael Landy\u2019s playful cockney rhyming slang installation. Later, at Sadler\u2019s Wells, we watch an extraordinary performance by Marc Brew, a ballerina who profoundly reinvented his art after being made paraplegic in a car accident, working in collaboration with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (the genius behind Beyonce and Jay Z\u2019s Apeshit video). At times, Stratford\u2019s sleek minimalism and the sheer scale of its architecture feel alienating, and bleak \u2014 like LA without the sun.<\/p>\n It also makes its promise as a culture epicentre feel somewhat inauthentic. Wonderful as it is that world-class venues have come here to Stratford, but it doesn\u2019t have the soul or history of say, Soho or Shoreditch. Even perusing the eclectic Big Market on Riverside East, looking at upcycled printed T-shirts and hand-knitted neon tank tops, I was left feeling it was a drop of authenticity in a neo-liberal capitalist ocean.<\/p>\n The David Bowie Centre is home to an archive of more than 90,000 items (PA Wire)<\/p>\n\n
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